Recent Tasting Notes

There is a Caribou coffee in a building adjacent to the building I work in which I almost never go to. I had this today as a tea latte, because if I’m going to pay $2+ for a cup of tea, I’m going to at least make them steam some milk for me hehe. This was actually kinda good. The mango was bright and juicy tasting, although the black base was forgettable. The milk added a creaminess and it was much better than I’m used to getting at coffee shops.
I miss my kettle at work. I miss my work teas.

Right? And Starbucks tea is not good. Although I have found that a sprinkle of nutmeg makes an “awake” black tea latte much more tolerable.
The kettle was left in the common area for anyone to use. Someone broke it, put a red piece of tape tape on it that said “broken” and then hid it behind a bunch of stuff in the back of a cabinet for me to find. I have to say that some of my coworkers do not have the strongest social skills

I have liked several of the tea lattes I’ve had from Caribou. I’m not sure about all of their teas but I am pretty positive that at least the cinnamon spice is a relabeled Harney. :) Soon it will be time for their pumpkin spice tea latte – which is fantastic, if not very tea-y. :)

So… it was in the lower 50s when I left work early today. I had to be home to get new windows installed so I went in insanely early to make sure I was getting enough done for the week and so I wouldn’t have to spend much vacation time. :)

There is a Caribou close to on the way home and I was cold so I thought this would be perfect. And it was! Again, just like a pumpkin pie with lots of ginger. Honestly, I wouldn’t call this tea of any kind and maybe it isn’t. What it is is delicious!

I had another of these yesterday when out running errands. It tasted exactly like a pumpkin pie with whipped cream. I tasted no tea at all. That said, it was mighty tasty. :) I can see this becoming a regular thing on my weekend errand runs as long as they have it around.

Grabbed one of these today while at the grocery store. I wasn’t going to get anything but then I saw the sign and couldn’t resist trying this one.

They didn’t ask me so I assume it comes as a lightly sweetened latte.

I suspect it is a powdered mix since the closer I got to the bottom of the cup, the more flavorful it got, as if it wasn’t fully mixed. It also took very little time to make, which also lends heft to my suspicion about a mix. Fully mixed or not, I was super impressed that they didn’t make it with water so hot I couldn’t immediately drink it. Most coffee places make their hot drinks with near boiling water and I have to wait 5 minutes or more with the lid off before I can come close to being able to drink. Not a good thing for an instant gratification type of gal. I have patience when I know I’m getting good quality tea. If it’s a coffee shop tea, I’m not expecting much so I want to just be able to drink it. :)

All that said, it was pretty tasty. One of the better coffee shop chais I’ve had. I’d get it again if I’m out on a cold day.

The first officer I was flying with today asked if we wanted anything and I said, “green tea.” So he comes back with this one and I spent a good portion of the flight (while serving passengers) trying to figure out what it was. My first thought was sencha and lemon. Definitely citrus. I thought it was a bit bitter but not overly so. Could have been just because of how long it was steeped. Pretty sure it was probably in there around 5 minutes. The weird part was when I got to the bottom of the cup it was intensely bitter. Kinda weird. Overall, not bad but I probably won’t get it again.

I really really believe Caribou uses Harney and Sons tea. They have so many similar blends, and even carry repackaged hot cinnamon spice. Anyhoo, this tea looks exactly like the sachet of Harney’s Holiday Spice and is just as disappointing. I used two sachets for 10 oz and just am not getting much flavor out of this.

Tried this latte style after robotics dinner out. Some simple syrup was added and soymilk and this is my new favorite latte. Noticed that caribou now carries a Hot Cinnamon Spice black tea in sachets in a tin and also they have Pomegranate Oolong. I am curious to find out if Harney and Sons may supply teas to them through wholesale. They have such similar teas.

I really enjoyed the sweet candy cinnamon the tea latte had. Will definitely be trying some of the other blends.

The new barista at Caribou didn’t have a clue how to make my normal tea latte so I opted for this over ice. You can certainly taste the pomegranate, so much so that it was really all I tasted other than the bitterness. I don’t remember this tea being that bitter, so I have a feeling it just wasn’t prepared properly. Good thing I ordered this iced, once my ice melted that made it much more drinkable, although even then I couldn’t really taste the oolong.

I wish my normal barista would go back to working Wednesday nights ::sigh:: she certainly knew how to make a good cup of tea and an excellent cup of coffee.

Grabbed a cup of this to try on the way out of the grocery store today.

Not bad. Very much milky, mildly spicy, not so much tea-ey. Not overbearingly sweet, which was good. Main spice I taste is cinnamon, followed by what is probably ginger. Not bad but nothing I’d go out of my way to get again.

I was wondering, from reading the names of the teas they had, if they used Harney & Sons tea. Asking the kid at the counter, though, he said they came in packages labeled Caribou Coffee, so he didn’t know. But “Citron Green,” “Hot Cinnamon Spice” & “Pomegranate Oolong” make me suspicious. Plenty of companies probably have those exact names, though. Just got hopeful seeing several names I associate with H&S on a local menu board. :)

That makes me happy then. Though I would guess they don’t use as much tea as I do when they make their chai. :) or, more likely, they don’t steep as long as I do because the spice level was definitely lower than when I make chai with H&S

Sipdown! though technically this was never logged into my cupboard. I know. I’m a baddie :) Thanks to Indigobloom for the sample of this one. I had two sachets so i shared one with someone at work today because somehow i’ve had all the teas in my work stash now and this was the only thing left! gasp My hopes weren’t terribly high for this one anyway since it’s a very green oolong. I’m really not getting pomogranate from this one either. it’s more of a floral type oolong. blech.

Appreciate the sample though Indigobloom as the more I taste, the more I figure out if i like things :)

Thank you Indigobloom for sharing a sample of this with me. Unfortunately I can’t give it a good rating.
The Oolong base is lacking to the extreme and the flavor is nearly non-existant.
I appreciate getting the chance to try this blend. Hopefully some of their other blends are better.
They are a coffee company after all so its alright.

I bought their Pom Oolong in sachets and it was good, but I agree that the oolong taste itself is muted and mostly I taste the fruit. My friend bought it loose leaf and loves it. She buys it by the pound.

Saw this tea at my local Caribou Coffee shop about 6 months ago, and got excited — it sounded wonderful from the description. The metal tin contains 20 sachets, so at $7.99 a tin it wasn’t cheap. When I opened the tin, I was overwhelmed by the intense cinnamon and cloves smell. And not overwhelmed in a good way. It was absolutely overpowering, and I couldn’t smell any orange peel in there because it smelled like 90% cinnamon and 10% cloves. No “tea” smell whatsoever, though you can see the semi-broken leaves. The sachets are of a high quality, but when I tried to steep the tea, it came out bitter, overpoweringly cinnamon, and hot on the tongue (spicy and a bit numbing from the cloves). Again, not a good sensation. My sister tried to smell the contents of the tin and couldn’t stop sneezing, because it was too strong. I never made more than that one cup with the tea… instead, I emptied the sachets into a decorative bowl and used it as a potpourri/room freshener in our guest bathroom. That was six months ago, and I can still smell the cinnamon and cloves in the dish — I bet if I tried to make a cup from the six-month-old, dusty leaves now, it would still be too strong. Overall, nasty… bitter, way too much cinnamon and clove, NOT recommended. Possibly one of the worst teas I have ever had, in fact. (Maybe this explains why Caribou doesn’t have “Tea” in their name.)

I got to sleep rather late last night. Could not settle down! This morning I was up early as usual and turned on Puccini Arias (picked from my granddaughters playlist I might add!). Opera and Oolong. Why not!
This sample comes in little pillow teabags…but I decided to snip one open and pour the contents into a fine mesh steeper and brew in that manner for maximum flavor.
The oolong is bold and assertive, barely astringent and pretty evenly balanced between vegital and floral lilac scent and taste. The vegital flavor is welcome. Usually it is so far in the background with a delicate oolong that you never pay much attention to what part it can play in the enjoyment of the tea. (Still, no pomegranate flavor for me)
The creamy effect begins to increase as soon as the tea cools. I looked forward to the silkiness that I knew would come. My lips and whole mouth tingled with small sparks of peppery heat. Where the heat came from I do not know but I liked the feeling. It had begun earlier…I pushed the thought aside…but it kept coming back to me.
This is not the richest, most exotic or elegant oolong for sure. But, I am now wanting a full bodied oolong with a kick (like this one) in my cupboard. It pairs precious well with Puccini Aria’s…with love songs for breakfast.

Thanks to Indigobloom for letting me sample this one. It just tastes like a plain oolong this time. Tasty in that sense, but no pomegranate flavour whatsoever. I did snip open the teabag and put the contents into an infuser this time, but it didn’t really help.

Preparation

Second sample, also from Indigobloom! I was feeling bad for not trying many of the samples she gave me, so I’m making an effort today :)

Eep. The dry teabag had a hint of soapy smell to it. Not a good sign! (Although now that it’s in the water, I’m smelling just oolong. Much better.)

Uh oh! Minus points – I just tried to remove the teabag and the string came off!! An extra minute of steeping followed. Hopefully it can take it. I have to note that the little pyramid teabag is like a poofy pillow with the expansion of the tea leaves! Kind of neat :)

The steeped tea smells mostly of oolong. That’s actually quite promising, because a lot of tea blends are short on tea flavour. I don’t smell pomegranate at all though.

Hmm, ok. The oolong is a bit buttery, but there’s also a bit of astringency. If I try really hard, I can taste the pomegranate weakly in the background. Ok, didn’t even taste it at all that time.

Well, that’s kind of disappointing. The base here was actually pretty promising, but the pomegranate flavour is horribly lacking :( Maybe it’ll show up more when I try the other teabag? As an straight oolong, this is rather mediocre, so the rating will reflect that.

Oh well. Thanks for the sample, Indigobloom!

Preparation

Darn, I guess that kind of dashes my hopes for the other teabag. I think I’ll take it to work though – it was an ok oolong, and no-fuss being in a teabag already. Definitely appreciate the sample though! Just wish they were a bit heavier-handed on the flavouring (or pomegranate chunks)!

I taste cinnamon, but it isn’t as strong as I expected it to be, and I taste a vanilla note to this, but the vanilla doesn’t taste authentic. It almost tastes like artificial vanilla extract. The black tea is a strong background note. This is just kind of “meh” to me, not something I’d hunt down to have again, but not horrible, either.